To the Moon and Back
by StaccatoSunrise
Summary: Hermione is forced to flee after the Battle of Hogwarts carrying secrets none of the others know. But when her children turn 11, she knows she can't avoid the magical world forever. Starts general, will turn into more of a romance later. Based off of another original story with full express permission of the original author.
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: I'm only gonna say this one time: I don't own anything that you recognize from JKR's books. No exceptions.

DISCLAIMER #2: I didn't write most of the original story or think up the concept. My cousin did (she goes by CallistaRose on the site). However I have her full express permission to do this rewrite.

This story picks up during the Battle of Hogwarts. It's a Harry/Hermione pairing, true to JKR's recently revealed wishes, so Hermione and Ron never kissed or anything. In this story, Fred, Lupin, and Tonks are still around because I didn't have the heart to kill them off (also the last book hadn't come out when my dear cousin wrote the original version).

To the Moon and Back—Chapter 1: Prologue

Voldemort had allowed them an hour's reprieve from the battle, and all were gathered in the Great Hall of Hogwarts. The cup and the diadem had been destroyed, and the final Horcrux remaining was the snake Nagini. The dead were laid out in the middle of the room when Hermione had entered with Ron and Ginny after surveying the front lawns for the injured and dead among the Hogwarts defenders. Hermione couldn't look at the

dead, didn't want to know exactly who among them had perished in the first wave of battle.

She and Ron followed Ginny to the corner where Madam Pomfrey sat with a large crowd of the injured, treating as many wounds as possible. Hermione approached quickly, keen to take her mind off of all she had been through and all the uncertainty that loomed ahead. Adding to her anxiety was Harry's absence for the past half hour.

"What can we do to help, Madam Pomfrey?" she asked as the school nurse worked to mend a gash across Ernie MacMillan's chest. Ernie was very pale and seemed not to notice them.

"Yes," she said at once. She pointed a finger of her free hand at Ginny. "You, come here, take this bandage, and put pressure on this boy's wound. I want to stop him bleeding out while I heal it. You two, run to the potions storeroom in the dungeons. I am nearly out of dittany, powdered unicorn horn, and murtlap roots. Miss Granger, if you see anything else that might be of use, please bring it."

At once, Hermione and Ron set off at a sprint for the dungeons. Their path was clear and eerily quiet. The lights had been extinguished as they drew nearer to the dungeons and both pulled out their wands to light the path.

"D'you reckon Harry is still upstairs?" Ron panted as they rounded another corner. Hermione didn't answer. They had last seen him running toward the Headmaster's office with a vial of Snape's memories, but Hermione had the stomach-churning feeling that he would go to the forest. He would want to end the loss of lives on his behalf, and he would want to do it sooner rather than later. She felt her eyes begin to swim with tears and felt glad that Ron was beside her and not looking at her.

"Er, yes, I haven't seen him come down." Even as the words left her mouth, Hermione remembered that Harry had his invisibility cloak with him. Her heart sank. If he decided to go to the forest, would he find them first to say goodbye? Hermione wasn't sure.

They reached the storeroom outside of the Potions classroom and unlocked it, hastily gathering as much as they could carry. Hermione conjured a large basket with her wand and began to fill it with the supplies Madam Pomfrey had requested. She also threw in a stack of clean, white straining cloths that could serve as bandages, mandrake root, and crushed knarl quills before she and Ron each took one handle of the basket and started back up the corridor toward the Great Hall with their wands held aloft in their free hands.

The journey was silent until they were three quarters of the way back, when a thought struck Hermione. Puffapod leaves! She'd seen some down in the storeroom, and remembered Professor Sprout saying back in their first year that while the pea pods were what the plant was known for, chewing the leaves was a powerful anti-inflammatory with analgesic properties. She stopped abruptly.

"What?" Ron asked in bewilderment.

"I've just remembered puffapod leaves, you know, for pain relief. I saw some in the storeroom, I'm going back. Can you manage the basket?" she said. His face conveyed apprehension, but he shrugged and hoisted the heavy basket of healing supplies into his arms. He looked apprehensive for a moment.

"Should I go with you?"

"No, I can manage," she said. "I'll meet you in a few minutes." With that, she turned and dashed back down the corridors, leaping down several flights of stone steps. It wasn't long before she reached the storeroom, threw open the doors, and began stuffing her pockets with the glossy lime-green leaves. Hermione glanced around the room once more to ensure she had forgotten nothing else and, satisfied with herself, pulled the doors shut behind her and sprinted back up the path to the Great Hall.

Halfway down a corridor, she was knocked to the side with such force that her feet left the ground and her body slammed into the cold stone wall to her left. A searing pain at her temple told her that she'd hit her head, and she crumpled, dazed, to the floor for a moment. A high, cold, maniacal laugh reached her ears. She whipped around, ignoring the black splotches appearing at the edges of her vision, and plunged her hand into her pocket for her wand.

It wasn't there. Her searching hand only met the slippery surfaces of dozens of leaves.

"Looking for this?"

Hermione turned in response to the horribly familiar voice and came face-to-face with Bellatrix Lestrange. She clutched Hermione's wand in her hand, holding it between two fingers as if it was something slimy and unpleasant. Behind her stood a short, muscular man with waxy skin stretched over his wide, shapeless features and a shaved head, a Death Eater that Hermione didn't recognize. Bellatrix tossed Hermione's wand carelessly to the man, who caught it and held it fast, and held her own wand pointed at Hermione.

"Lookie who we caught, Reynolds, Harry Potter's favorite Mudblood," she taunted, a sneer stretching over her face. Hermione glared at her, making an effort to rise from the ground. "I don't think so, Mudblood. Crucio!"

It was pain like Hermione had never known, searing through her body from her crown to her toes, sending daggers through every millimeter of skin and causing even the tiniest of her nerve endings to explode in agony. She heard herself scream in anguish in spite of herself.

The curse lifted and she felt as though she was being suddenly whipped. Dozens of thin ropes wrapped themselves around her, holding fast as though they were made of toughest steel. She instinctively began to struggle against her bonds, shouting out a number of counter-curses and defensive spells in her mind, but her wand was still clutched in Reynolds' hand.

Bellatrix approached, a wicked smile crossing her face. Unexpectedly, she reached out and closed a bony hand vicelike around Hermione's arm, yanking it around so her forearm was visible. She ran a cold finger over the fresh scar there, the word mudblood etched into her skin, sending shivers down Hermione's spine.

"Not bad work if I say so myself," she whispered. "Of course, I will be killing you today, so the scar won't matter. Maybe I'll mutilate your filthy body afterward for darling Harry to find. That is, assuming he lives long enough." She cackled her high laugh.

"Shouldn't you be in the forest," Hermione said, "waiting with your master? I wouldn't want you to miss Harry Potter finishing off Voldemort—"

"YOU DARE SPEAK HIS NAME!" Bellatrix roared, showering Hermione's face with spittle and foul breath. She did not look away, but before she knew it she felt the Cruciatus curse on her again, the ropes binding her cutting into her skin as her body twitched and jerked with agonizing pain, such pain that she was unable to think or feel anything else. After what seemed like months of pain, the curse lifted and Hermione panted in relief, her face wet with tears she hadn't remembered shedding. She lay on the stone floor now, unable to stand.

"Are you afraid to die, mudblood?"

"No," Hermione whispered, and it took all of her effort to keep her voice from quivering. She stopped struggling against her bonds.

"LIAR!" Bellatrix shouted, poking her wand into Hermione's breastbone so that the ache there deepened. Sparks flew with her temper and singed Hermione's clothes. Hermione said nothing, testing the ropes binding her again. They were unyielding, and without her wand she could not loosen them.

This was it, she thought, and she hoped that it would be quick. Knowing Bellatrix's reputation for bloodlust, this was unlikely, but Hermione decided that her last, best act of defiance would be to stare her down. She would not meet her end whimpering or cowering, she would not plead or seek mercy.

Her eyes met Bellatrix's cold black ones. Tears continued to escape her eyes involuntarily, but she determinedly continued to scowl at her captor.

"There are much worse fates than death," she whispered, her voice stronger now.

"Liar," Bellatrix hissed again.

"Just because you share Voldemort's terror doesn't mean everyone does."

"STOP SAYING THE DARK LORD'S NAME, YOU FILTHY, YOU VILE—"

The explosive pain hit her again. And again. When she felt the curse lift, she was panting worse than ever but she fixed her glare resolutely on Bellatrix's face.

Hermione said nothing. The ropes binding her were much too strong. She thought of Harry, she thought of Ron and the wonderful times they'd had together. A sense of finality came over her and a weight dropped into her chest with the realization that she would not share such memories with her two best friends again. Maybe, maybe, if Harry died tonight as well, they would meet again in whatever came after death.

Her thoughts turned to her parents, and she was suddenly grateful that she had modified their memories. They would not be devastated by her loss, and they would remain safe.

Suddenly, she was furious about losing her future, losing a life she would never have. Her parents would never know her. She worked up a mouthful of saliva. Bellatrix drew nearer, grabbed her by the front of her sweater, and yanked her to her feet. Hermione stood unsteadily against the wall, finding that she was struggling to remain upright.

"Not so tough after a few rounds of the Cruciatus curse, are you, mudblood?" Bellatrix taunted, another cruel smile distorting her features. With effort, Hermione spat into her face. Bellatrix let out a roar of rage.

"YOU DARE—"

"I've got nothing to lose, have I?" Hermione interrupted loudly.

"Bella," said the Death Eater Reynolds with urgency. "The forest, the Dark Lord, it's nearly time." The words seemed strike something in Bellatrix, who had a new look of malevolence on her face.

"I will not be killing you tonight, mudblood," she said quietly and with a note of glee in her voice. "We haven't the time for the torturous, drawn-out death you deserve. But after I'm through with you, you'll wish you were dead."

With a thrill of panic and foreboding, Hermione faced her tormentor and tried to keep her face impassive. What did Bellatrix have in store for her? She pointed her want at Hermione's forehead, face twisted into a horrible sneer, her cold, black eyes glittering with nefarious cruelty.

Hermione stared her down with all of the courage she could muster, her breath quickening in spite of herself.

"Obliviate."

Hermione had no memory at all of the few days that followed. She had no memory of picking her wand up off of the floor in the dungeons or running out the secret passageway to the Hog's Head before the second round of the battle began. She had no memory of apparating out of Hogsmeade. She did not know how she accessed all of her Muggle money or how she booked a Muggle airline ticket away from England.

In the weeks that followed, pieces of her memory began to return. Her childhood and years at Hogwarts came back in complete detail, as did her memories about the Order of the Phoenix and the search for the Horcruxes. She retained her personality and all of her memories of love and friendship with Harry, Ron, and Ginny.

She could not remember much of the Battle of Hogwarts, and she had no memory of how it had ended. All she knew for certain was the cruel memory that Bellatrix had planted there—though she had no recollection of her encounter with the Death Eater: that Harry, Ron, and Ginny were all dead, that it was entirely her fault, and that everyone in the magical world loathed her for it. The thought haunted her every day and she felt crushed by her own guilt, even if she could not remember precisely what happened.

Her life was changed completely when, three months after she had fled England, she began to feel sharp abdominal pains and sought medical care. The Muggle physician had run several tests and discovered that she was pregnant.

Pregnant. At the words, the memory of her and Harry came flooding back. It had been in the weeks leading up to the Battle of Hogwarts. The heightened sense of fear and love and friendship and desperation to hold onto each other for a little longer had led to an intimacy that neither had really intended, but in the end two babies had been conceived.

Seeing the ultrasound with two tiny, fluttering heartbeats had changed her. That first glimpse of her children, of Harry's children, imbued a new sense of determination and hope in her.

She would be okay. It was no longer a choice.

Okay, there's your new and improved start to a fun journey! Again, this is all with the express permission of my cousin, who is the original author. I obviously think that my version of the beginning of the story is much better than hers, but to be fair she didn't have the benefit of the seventh book being out when she wrote her version :)

Reviews are much appreciated! The next chapter will be up in a few days.

Until then,

StaccatoSunrise


	2. Chapter 2

To the Moon and Back—Chapter 2

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"So what do you recommend for this case?" asked a tall, young Asian man in a short white coat, holding a pen and clipboard at the ready. He looked at his teacher for advice: a pretty woman with sparkling brown eyes and very thick, wavy brown hair that was pulled out of her face in a clip for the moment.

"Step number one, Mr. Chen," Hermione Granger responded, picking up her stethoscope and slinging it around her neck. "This is our _patient_. He is a child with a family and a story, not simply an object of study." She paused, he looked at her expectantly, and she was reminded that he was just a medical student eager to learn the profession. "What is your proposed treatment plan?"

"The rash looks like impetigo, so bactroban ointment for two weeks," the student said with a note of uncertainty in his voice.

"Exactly what I would do as well," Hermione said with a nod of affirmation. "He's also just a year old, so you'll want to check with his parents that he's up to date on his vaccinations. Why don't you do that while I write the prescription?" The student nodded and turned to go back into the exam room at the clinic in which they were working. Hermione bent over her prescription pad, but just then a plump nurse with shiny blond hair pulled into a bun called to her from the nurse's station.

"Doctor, it's 12:30. You told me to remind you—" she was cut off by Hermione wincing.

"Oh, I forgot," she groaned. "Thanks Rachel!" She dashed behind the desk and retrieved her purse, hastily finishing the prescription and signing it before turning to dash out the door.

"But what-?"

"It's a bit of a drive to the summer camp, and I have to pick up my kids at 3pm. Please hand that prescription to my patient's mother before they leave, schedule a follow up, and tell my student that he should work with Dr. Marcus for the remainder of the day."

She hastily made her way toward the car in the parking lot of the pediatric primary care office where she now worked as a Muggle pediatrician. Hurriedly starting the car, she tore off her long, white coat and tossed it into the back seat before fastening her seatbelt and pulling out of the parking space.

She loved her job at the office, and though she missed many aspects of the world she had left behind, especially her best friends through school, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, and felt a painful stab of guilt and grief at remembering them. She had grown to love her life here in the suburbs of Muggle Richmond, Virginia. She loved her new home, her job, and especially her children.

Finding out she was pregnant was simultaneously one of the most painful and hopeful experiences she'd had in her life. She knew Harry, the father of the babies, had died in the war, and she knew that his death was the result of some fault of her own even if she could not remember the details. Being a mother was what pulled her out of the immense grief she'd felt at the deaths of her best friends, and she'd risen to the challenge.

Knowing she was to have two children in only a few months had wakened something in Hermione, and she knew she would need help. She had arranged to travel to Australia to locate her parents and return their memories of them. It took several days to locate them, but once she had found them, restored their memories, and explained her own story, she was relieved that they accepted it all, though not without a fair number of questions. They volunteered to move to the United States without hesitation.

Under the weight of her guilt, she'd resolved to remain apart from magical world. She knew it wouldn't be long-term, as she did not want to keep her children from attaining a wizarding education. To make locating her more difficult, she'd changed her name, adopting Harmony Wilkins as her new identity. Hermione wanted to protect herself and, most of all, her babies from any witch or wizard who attempted to hunt her down in the war's aftermath. She had also wanted to ensure that contact she had with witches or wizards from her past would be on her own terms.

On July 7, Hermione gave birth to her twins in an ordinary Muggle hospital. James Harry was born first, at 7 lbs even and Lily Annelise was second at 6lbs, 12 ounces. Despite a touch of newborn jaundice, her children were two healthy, vivacious little ones with cries to rival a mandrake. While she had assumed a new identity for herself, she decided to give her children the surname of Granger, so as to minimize the confusion they would undoubtedly feel when reentering the wizarding world later.

Hermione began school again, faking a university degree and enrolling directly in medical school. Her parents had supported her by caring for the twins when Hermione was attending classes and studying, enabling her to complete her medical school training and her residency in pediatrics. It was very difficult, particularly financially, but she had managed. Once she had finished her training and secured a job with regular hours, the twins were 7 years old and in school full-time, and Hermione's parents had decided to move back to England.

Lily and James grew up in Richmond in the Muggle community, with non-magic friends and enrolled in Muggle schools, not knowing anything about the magical world at all. Hermione had done this intentionally, not because she wanted to keep it from them, but because she wanted them to grow up as normally as possible. They would likely have their names down for a school of magic in the United States, and Hermione knew that she would have to tell them everything when the time came. She did not want to keep them away from magic forever.

Despite the years passing, Hermione could never forget the challenges she had faced with her two best friends at Hogwarts, particularly the year leading up to the Battle of Hogwarts. Most of her memories of those horrors were so vivid that she had trouble recalling them without trembling or crying. Even eleven years later she still woke sweating, screaming, and shaking from the nightmares of being tortured in Malfoy Manor, fighting off the snake Nagini and the narrow escape from Godric's Hollow, watching her friends and allies die time after time. The only memories that weren't clear were those that followed the first part of that last battle, the time in which she knew Harry, Ron, and Ginny had all perished because of her. The excruciatingly painful feelings that this remembrance triggered left no doubt that she did not need the images to suffer nightmares from that instance.

While Hermione found it easy to block these distressing memories out during the day, it proved impossible to completely hide her nightmares from James and Lily. The twins sometimes heard her screaming in her sleep whenever nightmares plagued her, rushing into her bedroom to ensure nothing was wrong. When they were younger, both would become frightened by their mother's "Bad dreams" and insist on crawling into bed with her, effectively warding off the nightmares. She hated that she did that to her kids and it tore at her heart to see their little faces mirroring her own terrified expression, Lily crying with her without knowing why and James standing there patting her shoulder and telling her to be brave because it was only a dream.

Of course, they were older now, were used to the nightmares, and no longer came bursting into her bedroom. Hermione often saw her bedroom door open a fraction and close again as Lily or James checked in to "make sure there isn't an axe-murderer in the house," as they had explained one morning at breakfast. If she continued to sob after waking, Lily would still sometimes crawl silently into bed beside her.

For now, though, she concentrated on the present as she pulled into the parking lot of the camp and parked the car. The car's clock read 3:30, a bit later than she'd anticipated. James and Lily had been coming to this sleep away camp for the past 3 years and Hermione knew it was the highlight of their summer holidays, so she doubted they would mind if she was a bit late. She made her way into the cool camp mess hall and pulled off her sunglasses, eyes sweeping the room that was bustling with color and activity for a hint of her own kids. Then, out of nowhere, she was bombarded by what looked like two colorful, backpack-wearing and beaming 10-year-olds, both jumping up and down with excitement.

"Mom!" Lily squealed, hurling herself into Hermione's arms and nearly knocking off her glasses in the process. Her thick, wavy chestnut hair flew behind her as she ran into her mother. Hermione held out her other arm so that she could hug her son James, a boy with untidy brown hair the precise shade of his sister's and warm brown eyes.

"Hi, Mom," he said, grinning so that his braces glinted in the sunlight and hugging her back. They collected their duffel bags and dragged them out to the car, hoisting them into the trunk. Both kept dashing back to say good-bye to their friends and dragging Hermione over to meet the other parents. She didn't mind this in the slightest, glad that her children generally had an easier time making friends than she had as a child. Eventually, the twins were corralled back into the car.

"How was it?" Hermione asked, adjusting the rearview mirror so that she could see Lily more clearly in the back seat (James sat in the front today). She pulled out of the parking lot and began the drive back to their house.

"Excellent!" they both exclaimed at once, beaming. And they began rambling on about the camp activities and events.

"But one of those things happened again, Mum," James said, suddenly looking slightly perplexed. Hermione looked up, frowning. By 'one of those things,' she knew that he meant accidental magic.

"What sort of thing?" she asked with interest, pulling into the driveway of their house.

"It was weird," Lily said, exchanging a look with her twin. "Like the other things, but James didn't actually _do_ anything at all."

"One of the boys, David Kenwin, was making fun of my braces," James explained, frowning slightly. "Lily grabbed my arm to drag me away, but then everyone was laughing, and we turned around and saw that his two front teeth were growing really fast, all the way down to his chin."

She had, of course, not forgotten the time in the fourth year that the same thing had happened to her. Appalled, she turned to face the two of them.

"But what happened to him? Was he okay?" Lily shrugged.

"Of course he was, but he had to leave early to go to see a doctor to have his teeth filed back down. Everybody looked very, very confused, but at least the other kids didn't think it was us." Hermione nodded, slowly.

"He didn't come back for the rest of the week!" James added with a grin that his mother couldn't see.

Hermione said nothing. There was no use. While her children suspected that the odd things that happened were somehow caused by them, they had no idea that they had magical blood in their veins. They could no more control their accidental magic than Hermione could have at that age.

The rest of the ride went without incident, the twins drifting off to sleep with their heads drooping onto their shoulders. She pulled into the driveway of their home at half-past six and woke the twins.

"We're going out for supper tonight," she told them as they hauled their things out of the car, shooing one of the neighbor's cats out of the way. "I'd like you both to wash up quickly and change into clean clothes before we go, alright?"

They nodded and started into the house, Hermione helping to carry the duffel bags up the stairs. Once they were settled in their rooms, Lily off to the bathroom, she retreated to the kitchen for a cup of tea and a bit of reading time.

A quarter of an hour later, James knelt on the floor of his room, still sorting the contents of his bright red duffel bag when he heard a knock on his door. _Rat-a-tat-tat_ : Lily's knock, he knew. His mother's was three quick raps on the wood.

"Come on in, Lil," he called, not getting up off of the floor. Lily opened the door. She was already dressed for the evening in a white lacy shirt and pink capri pants, her wet hair hanging flat down her back.

"Hey," she greeted him, entering the room and climbing onto his bed.

"Oh, good," he said, throwing a dirty pair of shorts into his hamper. "I can take my shower now, then." He turned and glanced at the look on his sister's face, which was one of mixed concern and confusion. "What's up?" She was silent for a moment.

"Do you think that something's up with Mom?" she asked him, her brow furrowing. James shrugged, sitting on the edge of the bed and turning to face her.

"I dunno."

"It's just—it's just that she's been acting kind of funny. I mean, I think that most parents would freak if, say, you suddenly wound up at the top of a tree without knowing how you got there, or mysteriously caused another kid to have blisters pop up on every inch of his face. Always when one of us is upset or being teased. We didn't even get scolded, and you know how strict Mom can be about behavior." James nodded in agreement. Their mother _was_ strict about their schoolwork, chores, and behavior.

"I don't know, Lily," James told her honestly.

"It almost seems as if she—"

"—knows something that we don't?" Lily nodded.

"Yeah, I mean, I know it sounds silly, but maybe there's something wrong with us. Maybe we have a psychological disease!" she exclaimed, suddenly looking terrified. James rolled his eyes. Leave it to Lily to turn any problem into something medical; she loved anything to do with the subject and was eager to become a doctor like her mother when she grew up.

"I seriously doubt it," he told her more confidently than he felt. "Mom would've taken us to a shrink or something by now. Actually," he said, frowning, "she would have done _something_. It's a bit weird, unless she believes all of that stuff is just a coincidence."

"Or maybe," Lily started, a thought crossing her mind, "our father was a bit weird as well, and it's been passed to us."

"Makes sense. Mom would already be anticipating the weirdness and wouldn't be surprised at all when that stuff happens." They both stared at each other, considering this. Then Lily started to get up and shrugged, as if hoping that the worry she had would fall off of her shoulders if she did.

"We can talk to her about it sometime," she said, checking the clock in James' room. "You should get in the shower, Mom wanted to leave for dinner soon, and I'm starving!"

"Me too!" James grabbed the khakis and black polo shirt he would be wearing that night and headed for the shower; Lily left her brother's room for her own orderly bedroom, which had a bright yellow duffel bag sitting open on the bed. She sighed as she sat down and began to unpack her things.

Dinner that evening was an uneventful but animated affair at a local seafood restaurant. Most of it was spent with the twins regaling their mother with tales of camp, the new friends they had made and the old ones with whom they had kept in touch from previous years, and the fun and silly things they had done and seen throughout the week.

It was after nine o'clock when Hermione pulled the car into the driveway of the house, and though it was summertime, she saw that Lily and James were ready to fall asleep. She ushered the two into the house and upstairs to their bedrooms, where they changed into their pajamas and called for her to tuck them into bed.

Hermione went into her son's bedroom first, and she was surprised to find that it was clean and neat, with all of the dirty camp clothes in the basket by the door. James was curled up in his bed, reading Tolkein's _Lord of the Rings_ series in the light of his bedside lamp. She made her way over to him, sat on the edge of the bed, and took the book from him, examining it.

"Haven't you already read this whole series twice already?"

"Only three times," he said sheepishly. "It's a good series!" She laughed softly.

"It's okay to like to read, James," she told him, setting the book back on the nightstand and turning out the lamp. "I'm not going to try to stop you from reading, ever." She could see the outline of his face smiling at her in the dark.

"Thanks, Mom. Good night."

"Night, kiddo," she said, kissing his forehead and standing to leave the room. "I love you."

"I love you to." And with that, she carried his laundry hamper out of the room and closed the door, leaving it open a few centimeters. She turned across the hall to Lily's room and was unsurprised to find her daughter sitting up against her pillows, also reading. Unlike her son, however, Lily didn't much like fantasy books; she was reading a Nancy Drew mystery and promptly looked up when her mother entered the room.

"Hey, sweetheart, time to go to bed," Hermione said. Lily nodded, setting the book on the nightstand and allowing her mother to sit on the edge of the bed.

"Thanks again for dinner," she said with a smile. "It was great." Hermione beamed, bending down to kiss Lily goodnight. She removed her daughter's glasses gently, looking into her bright green eyes. Harry's eyes. She placed the glasses on the bedside table.

"Brush your teeth and wash your face?"

"Yep," Lily grinned to show as much of the surface of her teeth as she could.

"Good girl. I'm glad you had a good time at dinner. I'll see you in the morning, okay?"

"Okay." Hermione turned to leave after stroking her daughter's cheek with her own thumb.

"I love you, Lily," she said, flipping off the lights.

"Love you too," came the voice through the dark.

It was going to be hard, Hermione knew as she walked the hallway back to her own bedroom. A wooden trunk sat at the foot of the bed—the trunk that she had used at school. She sat on the floor beside it and lay her hand atop the smooth, polished oak. But she had to, for her children's sakes. It was the end of June and she knew that Hogwarts letters would arrive very soon. She wanted to be prepared when that day came.

She stood abruptly and made her way over to her sock drawer, opening it and rummaging in the back. Her fingers closed around something smooth and familiar, and as she pulled out her arm, her wand was clutched in her right hand. Going back over to the trunk, she made sure that her door was closed before pointing her wand at the trunk and uttering the first spell that she had used in over eleven years.

" _Alohomora_ ," she said in a shaky voice. For a split second, she thought she'd lost her magic or done the spell incorrectly, but the lid sprang open and revealed the contents within. Kneeling and dropping her wand on the floor beside her, Hermione began to sift through things that she had once cherished and had not seen daylight for over a decade. Yet the photographs still smiled and waved up at her, and the robes were as black as ever. Swallowing hard, she grabbed the first book her hands would reach: her old-time favorite _Hogwarts: A History_. Closing and relocking the trunk, she curled up into her own bed, lifted the cover of the tome, and began to read.

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There you go, the latest chapter!

I would adore your feedback, good or bad. Next chapter should be up sometime over the weekend. Have a good one, friends :)

Staccato Sunrise


	3. Chapter 3

To the Moon and Back - Chapter 3

The combination of warm rays of sunlight falling across her face and happy laughter woke Hermione the next morning. Rubbing her eyes, she rolled over and was shocked to find that it was already 7:45 am. She had been reading late into the night and had overslept as a result. After a quick shower, she threw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and hurried down the stairs.

Entering the sunlit kitchen, she saw that Lily and James were both sitting at the kitchen table and playing a board game. Both were still in their pajamas, and Lily's thick, wavy hair was up in a ponytail; her daughter had not inherited the full bushiness of her own hair, for which Hermione was grateful. Hermione smiled and greeted them, opening the refrigerator and taking out a container of blueberry pancake batter.

"Good morning" she said, beaming. "How long have you guys been up?"

"Since seven," Lily answered promptly while James moved a game piece several squares around the board.

"Do you want pancakes for breakfast?" The grins she received at the mention of food told her what she needed to know. Lily and James continued to play their ordinary Muggle board game (the game of _Life_ ) without a second thought.

After breakfast, both children dressed and went out to ride their bicycles around the neighborhood, enjoying the summer sunshine and great weather. Hermione, enjoying the weekend day off of work, perused the paper with her cup of tea in between finishing the children's laundry. The twins returned shortly after noon to bolt down a sandwich and an apple each, eager to return to the nearby park.

"What's going on at the park?" Hermione asked them curiously.

"We're playing Ultimate Frisbee with the other kids. It's awesome! Everybody broke for lunch but the game starts up again at 1," Lily explained enthusiastically. James nodded energetically, his mouth far too full of sandwich to speak. They were soon off again, their bicycles quickly moving out of sight. Hermione smiled. She was glad for the time to herself at the moment.

After pondering the issue throughout the previous week, she had decided that it would be best to relocate to England in the next few weeks. Her parents had been helping a great deal in the complicated processes of finding a house, car, and new job in the country where she had grown up. It would be difficult for her children, as their lives and friends were in Virginia, but she knew they would adjust. The priority for Hermione was that the twins attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and she wasn't certain they would be able to do so without living in the UK. With a lot of careful research the previous week, she had located and sent an owl off to the school, letting them know that two children of magical blood would be residing in the country prior to the start of term to ensure that their names were down in the magical registry of the country's wizarding children.

She had still not told Lily or James of this decision. She knew that she must do so soon, but she had wanted a few more details in place before that time came. The twins would have so many questions and she wanted to have as many answers for them as possible. A very necessary part of this conversation would have to include the news that they were a witch and wizard, and on that point, she didn't know precisely where to begin.

Hermione had finished cleaning the kitchen from lunch and just decided to weed the back garden when a knock came at the door. She made to answer it, expecting one of the twins' friends, and pulled open the door.

Her eyes widened and her breath caught in her throat in shock. She blinked several times to make sure that the person in front of her was not a figment of her imagination.

Minerva McGonagall stood on her front porch, wearing an ordinary blue dress and clutching a leather handbag. Her hair in a tight bun, she looked the same as ever. Hermione stared, and it appeared that Professor McGonagall was staring a bit as well.

"P-professor?" Hermione stammered, moving aside and allowing McGonagall to enter the house.

"Oh, Miss Granger, you are a sight to behold," McGonagall said, and to Hermione's surprise, her eyes grew moist and she swept Hermione into a hug. They broke apart and McGonagall dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief.

"Would you, er, like to come in for a cup of tea?"

"Yes, I am here on business, but tea would be lovely." Hermione led her former teacher into her kitchen, where she put a kettle on to boil. McGonagall frowned a bit at this but said nothing.

"What brings out all the way out here, Professor? Did you receive my owl?" Hermione asked, offering Professor McGonagall a tin of thin lemon cookies and bustling around the kitchen for tea cups, saucers, spoons, milk, and sugar. Her hands shook very slightly as she did this. She set everything on the polished kitchen table and the two women sat across from one another.

"Yes, the owl was brought to my attention shortly after it was received at the school," McGonagall said. "It came as a shock, to be quite honest. Nobody in the wizarding community in Britain has seen or heard from you in over a decade, not knowing…" her voice trailed off briefly. "Nobody was certain whether you were dead or alive, what state you were in. Receiving your owl was an immense relief in many ways, but very surprising too. Two children!" she exclaimed. Hermione smiled. Her kids brought her more happiness than anything else.

"Are they the reason you are here?" Hermione asked. Professor McGonagall nodded and opened her handbag. A moment later, she withdrew two envelopes addressed in emerald ink, one each to _Miss L. Granger_ and _Mr. J. Granger, 1241 Sandy Creek Road, Richmond, Virginia, United States of America_. Hermione took them and smiled.

Just then the tea kettle gave a shrill whistle and she jumped up to fetch it, pouring steaming cups of tea for both of them and leaving the kettle on a trivet on the table.

"It's very good that you wrote, Hermione," Professor McGonagall said, adding milk to her tea. "They weren't originally on our registry of magical children in the country, but I was able to add their names without any trouble."

"Thank you, Professor McGonagall," Hermione said, her hand resting atop the Hogwarts letter. She paused for a moment before adding "It's not that I'm not pleased to see you, but why have you come to deliver these personally?"

"I'd have thought that was obvious," McGonagall said, sipping her tea. "I wanted to check that it was really you who had written. As I said, your whereabouts had been a source of curiosity for all who knew you in our world, particularly for friends who have never ceased to search for you."

Hermione flushed with shame, taking her time adding sugar to her tea, stirring it thoroughly, and taking a swig before replying to it. She thought that her friends in the wizarding world would have searched her out, yes, but primarily because they were angry about what had happened at her hands during the war. Before she could stop herself, she told Professor McGonagall this. Her brow wrinkled in puzzlement.

"What is it that happened?" she asked gently. Hermione took another swig of tea and felt her eyes swim with tears.

"Harry, and Ron and Ginny…" her voice trailed off, and she was suddenly not certain she wanted to relive this and did not know how to begin talking about it. Hermione swallowed hard and told Professor McGonagall everything she was certain she already knew, about how she had been responsible for the deaths of her three closest friends, how she didn't exactly recall what had happened, how that weight of guilt had followed her for all these years, and how she had left the country and the magical world because she was certain that, after what she'd done, nobody would want to see her face again. She recounted how she had fled to the United States, discovered she was pregnant, and searched out her own parents.

Reliving all of this was painful for Hermione, and she soon had to hop up from the table and retrieve a box of tissues. She looked for a reaction on McGonagall's face, but her expression was quite impassive. Both were silent for a long moment before a fleeting look of understanding crossed the professor's face.

"Miss Granger," she said at last, "I understand what you are saying, but there's been a mistake. May I explain?"

"Please," Hermione said, baffled by what Professor McGonagall could possibly have to say to her. McGonagall nodded, taking another drink of tea. Hermione got the distinct impression that she was trying to decide how to begin.

"I believe that you were captured by Death Eaters during the final battle at Hogwarts, and that they modified your memory."

Hermione was dumbstruck. Was this why the details surrounding her final hours at Hogwarts were absent from her memory? She couldn't remember being captured by Death Eaters, she didn't think she had even been alone long enough to be captured and have her memory modified without anyone knowing it. Had any other allies been with her?

A horrible thought dropped into her stomach, one that seemed to grasp her insides and twist them suddenly, making it impossible to breathe for a few moments.

Had she been bewitched to kill her best friends?

There's a nice short one and a bit of a cliffhanger for the 3 of you who seem to be reading :) The next chapter will be up soon.

As always, your reviews are so appreciated


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